G5RV/ZS6BKW Antennas

The ZS6BKW antenna is a better match for our bands than the G5RV. The method of construction and tuning  is essentially the same for both antennas but the dimensions are different.

Here is the ZS6BKW antenna installed at AK6R fine tuned for the CW/FT8 frequencies on 40-20-17-12-10 meters.  An excellent antenna when installed at 30 feet or higher and no tuner required avoiding the tuner losses and constant retuning.  If you want to work all bands from 80-10 install an antenna tuner between the 1:1 balun and the amplifier and ignore the 39/40 switch.

Is this the best FT8 antenna?  – I think so as I has made over 70,000 contacts and it still is a proven winner -Good world wide DX, easy to install, no tuner and takes full legal limit.

PAL ZS68006 Ant Layout - G5RV/ZS6BKW Antennas

 

Here are several different 1:1 baluns you can use depending on power requirements:

1:1 Current Balun

SKU BA-1-1000
$24.95
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1:1 Current Balun
Product Details

Model BA-1-1000 is a 1:1 balun kit used to translate a 50 ohm
unbalanced input to 50 ohms unbalanced at power levels up to 1000 watts
PEP/100 watts continuous when used with a matched load. With a matched
load the SWR will not exceed 1.5 over the frequency range 1.8 to 61 MHz.
1,000 PEP watt rating on a 25% duty cycle. Will sustain about 100 watts RTTY or FT8 at 6 meters. (for higher power use the BA-1-1500 with 6-8 turns for higher frequencies).

Common mode impedance peaks
around 3,500 ohms at 10Mmhz.

With a matched 50 ohm load the SWR over the frequency range 1.8 to 61
MHz is shown in the following table measured with an AIM 4170 network
analyzer. Notice that the conversion from 50 to 50 ohms is very
consistent from 1.8-61 MHz and SWR is less than 1.3:1 over the range
allowing easy tuning by most radio internal antenna tuners or an
external tuner.

BA 1 1000 SWR 1 61 Mhz 1024x615 - G5RV/ZS6BKW Antennas

Ba-1-1000 1:1 Balun/Unun 1KW PEP 1-61 Mhz

The kit consists of a F140 ferrite toroidal core, enamel insulated
wire, a SO-239 connector with stainless steel hardware, and an
illustrated instruction manual with directions to connect the kit as a 1
to 1 balun/unun (unbalanced coax to unbalanced antenna or balanced
antenna like a dipole). Balun assembly time takes about an hour and is a
fun learning process.

Add a SO-239 Kit on output side to create a 1:1 unun (coax to coax line isolator) or add studs for a balun for use with dipole or beam antenna.

Use the recommwnded CB-Box-1 for a convenient enclosure.


 

Here is the Coax Noise Filter used to suppress coax common mode currents (works for all type of antennas)

 

PDF of ZS6BKW at AK6R Construction Article HERE: My ZS6BKW Antenna